News

McCartney sisters take Sinn Fein fight to Brussels

THE sisters of the murdered Catholic Robert McCartney plan to take their campaign against IRA violence to Downing Street, Brussels and Dublin after their success in America last week.

The five will open a campaign office in Belfast this week, along with Bridgeen Hagans, their brother’s fiancée. They intend to sustain pressure on Sinn Fein to bring forward witnesses to the killing and to make criminal activity by the IRA an issue in the Northern Ireland peace talks.

McCartney, a 33-year-old father of two, was stabbed to death outside a Belfast pub in January after an argument that had occurred inside with a group of IRA members.

Gerry Adams, the Sinn Fein president, has called the killers “rogue elements” but they are known to have held senior positions in the IRA.

Last week the six women were guests at the White House as part of the St Patrick’s Day celebrations.